Ep 1257 | Solving the Mystery of Melchizedek: Why This Stranger Matters More Than You Think

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to unashamed. We are heavy in our study in first John. We're deep deep into the word deep dog deep. But we've taken some timeouts to try to make this practical from time to time. But it's also duck season. We're getting toward the end of duck season. Sometimes Zach and I worry about your state of mind during these late weeks of duck season. He brags about getting up early but he often leaves out the fact that he takes a four hour nap every day. But only take four hour naps when my wife goes out of town because then there's nobody to wait me up. When you get out of duck season, do you take four hour naps or do you get back to the home season? I take a one hour nap. I get about five to seven hours a night and then I take a one hour nap. So now I feel like we're getting to know each other today. Getting to know you. So I had this, you know, it's duck season turns into, especially when you have low water like we do this year, it's like a shell game. You're trying to figure out where to go, when to go because you got multiple places and it's, you spend a lot of time thinking about these things. And so today I zigged when I should have zagged because in our time we did podcast yesterday. No, that means nothing to people who are listening to my voice. They're throwing these podcasts out at various times and places that don't get all wigged out. Oh, this, this, I thought last week he was over there. Well, probably so. In the other shame world, what he's saying is audience is the time continuity means nothing. It means nothing. We're in a portal now now. See how I segwayed that. Nice. There's a, because time stands still when it's not live. You can then insert it back in time. Kind of like Jesus's death, bell and resurrection. It, it, it goes backwards, forwards and forevermore, which is what I got distracted reading this text because at some point we, we were making this connection. What does it mean that we have one speaking in our defense at the right hand of God, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. So we went back to Hebrews and we started looking because that seems to emphasize what Jesus is doing at the right hand of God. And it kind of frames it around as like he's our sin offering not only on the cross, but in the presence of God as a human, as a perfect human who died for the sins of all the other humans to make this access possible. Did I accurately depict that? Yeah. Yeah. I think so. So this is concrete. What I was making the illustration about the duck season. My point was I went yesterday before podcast and we shot 12 ducks, but they were quality. Mallards and teal. So I was fired up. And after the podcast, well, I went back. Well, guess what? Zebro. Nothing came. So, oh, barely is in town. Long time, Fred, I worked with barely when I was in my early 20s when he first came to the Lord. And his dad and my dad were friends and his dad famously got a place in the in the blind with my dad because for 14 days in a row, he brought a ham, a whole ham, an entire ham to my dad's door. And my dad, he would see that because he came bringing gifts. And my dad, the first time he did it, he said, so I guess you want to go duck hunting with me. And he's like, yes, sir, but he had that ham. And my dad said, you know what? You're in. Now, the funny part of that story is so then the next day he woke up and brought another ham and got in the duck blind. But after two weeks of this, he came up, he's like, well, you have another ham. And my dad said, hey, you can hunt with me, but let's get off the ham. I mean, because I'm a ham, a whole ham. You can't eat a whole ham. Well, you got to know the ham were being eaten. We had a big family back in the sand, the blinds full. And you're sitting there back then we hunted all day. So you're eating a ham a day. I ham a day. But after two weeks of it, you kind of like that's good. Yeah, I just said get off the ham and we want roast beef tomorrow. I think I'm making this story up. But that was straight. That is true. And it reminds me of the verse back in back in Exodus when the people were complaining because they only got manna. They were like, oh, if we were still an agent, we can eat some meat. And God said, okay, I'm going to send you some coil. And I'm going to send you so many that's going to come out of your nostrils. That was the way that it was framed. This is a ham nostril. So fast forward to today. Now both our dads have gone on to be with the Lord. And so barely he's like, well, you mind if I go hunting tomorrow? Because now he's down there. He lives in Colorado. But he's down there. And I said, I can't get some property. I said, I can't. Yeah, I said, I can't go tomorrow because if I keep doing this, I will. I'm just going to pass out. I mean, when you think about it, if you go hunting before podcast, then go hunting till dark. And then try to repeat that. Well, you're just going out. I mean, there's too much going on. The brain only has so much bandwidth. So and I was thinking here was my logic. We did not fire our guns when I went back that evening. I was like, they're gone. So here's what my thinking was. I said, yep, you can go hunting. But you have to hunt this spot. And he's like, Oh, okay, great. You know, we shot 12 duck because I was thinking, well, we just hunted four hours in the afternoon. And there's nothing here. So guess what happens this morning? I didn't go. I slept. Got me some rest. Oh, yeah. Him and his nephew full limits of malice and get walls. I'm like, wait, what? What just happened here? So sometimes the last thing you think would work. That's why I said it's like a shell game. Yeah. Is what you should do. You're like, we have no hope right here. But that was his only seat. And guess what? New ducks appeared. So I got slicked. I slicked. I mean, Jay's may not be in there, but maybe in a lifetime observant of barely, maybe in a lifetime observant of barely in his hunting acumen for them to get full limits. Unless the nephew really knows something. No, is a subot novice hunter. I thought I thought saying things. He's telling me this. And I was like, there's nothing I don't believe you. But I'm going to need to see it. So proof of death. He fired the picture. And I thought, okay, this is too many to fly by and have a heart attack right in his E-coise. So somehow a guy and his nephew not known for their shooting ability or their colleague. Now we'll say yes. So burly he, we have a maler drake call that my dad invented. It's probably one of the greatest selling calls in the history of the world. Burley is the greatest maler drake collar in the world. I agree. He has a deep voice. And I meant I meant I meant that commander. I don't see a maler drake. I would I would give you an illustration. No, that's all handcuffs. Oh, no, we have one. Look, breaking news. I say one part of the set is becoming a part of the podcast. Stand by. Jason. Next to Phil's Bible. I guess it was off camera. So 2025 was a big year for me because I turned 60. I was very much overweight and I tried to do a little 60 by 60. That was an abject failure. And so I came across thanks to Zach some good friends of our podcast now PhD weight loss. And Dr. Ashley Lucas, who is the founder of this fantastic diet program. And I started it in January 2025. Now here we are 2026. And not only am I 60 pounds lighter. I am 80 pounds lighter. Here's a picture of me if you're watching this on YouTube. At the beginning of the journey. And here I am now. And it's been fantastic. And it's more than just simply counting calories. Your body is much more complicated than that. So you got to figure out how to ignite this fat burning mechanism. Once it happens, you'll lose the weight. You won't have the skin that saggy. You'll actually look good doing it, which really was a surprise to me. It's changed my life in a lot of great ways and not just feeling better, but also off meds, off a CPAP machine and able to just do a lot more. You want to understand why your body isn't cooperating. I want you to call PhD weight loss now and mention fix my weight loss to unlock our New Year special you book your consultation. It's free. It's personalized and it could explain everything called 864644 1900 and say fix my weight loss. That's 864644 1900 or visit my PhD weight loss dot com. Tell them that I'll send you. Okay, so this will be fun. So so my dad invented this and all it is this invention is pretty cool is is a whistle. If you just blow air into it, it sounds just like a green wing till great. That's a green wing till great. But if you put your hand over the end of the call and you hum a low base note. And put this in your lips watch what happens. And then you just sound like a drake. It is a minor drake and you can sound like a few of them like happy. So burly has perfected this and what's funny about this when we started selling this. Well some guys are tenors. So you know, I mean, they're talking like this. Hey, man. What's going on? When they come a low base note, it's like, that's as low as they can go. So then they buy one and they go, and there's a tree frog. That would be Zan. Can go out about the tree frogs. It will excite tree frogs and you can have a conversation. And it's just for end of that. But so there's there's that was a funny thing because you can't change your voice. So they'd call in there like, I just can't get this thing to sound right. And it would be like, well, you need to find somebody with a low voice. You got to get a bear tone or a bear. I'm a pretty good. I'm pretty good on a drake call because I got a pretty deep voice as well. So I asked it burlies the best though, you're right. But so he said he blew the drake call. And I was like, well, then I'm going to go, I've seen a shooting for 30 years. So I'm like, how is it possible? And I said, barely I have a question for you. He said, what's that? I said, because they're not called him. I said, these ducks light in the decoys and y'all shot them on the water. He went, yep. So then it all made sense, but it told me then that it was new ducks. So isn't that funny that two guys go out there, Hunter place we hunted the day before there's no ducks. New ducks came down. All they did was just that little drake call. And they're, and I put the decoys spread out because we left it. I left the spread. I'm taking partial credit for that. And those ducks just came right down in their decoys and lit and they shot them. And now they're going to have duck for supper. So I think that's well, you mentioned, you mentioned, ero dad. That was why he always wanted to be in the blind. Deer induct season as much as possible because you never know that was. He was the key phrase. I out when he told me that story. And look, I was I'm the type of person at this stage of my duck hunting career. I was really happy for them. I thought that is really. He got his nephew there. They had a wonderful hunt. And I would have never gone there because those four hours yesterday said we need to get out of here. But I didn't factor in new ducks. New ducks never know. So now the verse I was mystified about when we were going through Hebrews. And I think if you remember, we went through, I think we went through Hebrews chapter one, one, two, four. We actually did a whole series of podcasts on Hebrews somewhere out there. Yeah, we got the last one and at least in my notes was four, four, four, 14 through 16. We went through that, which is very powerful that we had. We may approach the throne of grace with confidence. Yep. And so we talked about his humanity. So when you get to what was the next one in line? 619 is what I was. Okay. So I was well, that's perfect. That's that's where I was headed. The one in chapter seven is the one I was going to point out. And just remember, we're trying to wrap our heads around first, John 2, verse one and two. So 619 says we have this hope. Now this is in the context. Remember when he says there's two impossible things or two, uh, let me start over. There's two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie. Yep. And then he never says what the other thing is like directly, which I think we talked about this. We went through Hebrews, but you know, his nature doesn't change. And so then it says we have this hope, which so God we can, he's faithful. We can trust him. He can't lie. His plan is what it is. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. But watch what why he gives the reason for this hope wherein we know that whatever God says is true. He can't lie and it's going to happen. It says it enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where the temple is in the center where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf. Whoa. That's a huge thing. That's temple language. It's temple language. So we did this whole thing about Jacob and anointing the place where this encounter with God, the presence of God. But you also see high priests encountering the presence of God in the tabernacle. We have this little mobile heaven and earth portal. Yep. And so now he's taking what happened in Jewish history and making that a reality available to all first, two, one and two. He's for us in, but it's available for everyone. And he's using that language, this curtain between heaven and earth, humans and God. And it's now been given to us through Jesus for our behalf. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting when you think about that. I mean, the images that pop up in my mind are the construction of the tabernacle. I'm thinking about, because I preached on this at our church and actually went through all of those details. Because it's pretty, it's not laborious if you actually know what you're reading, but it seems laborious as you're reading the details of the construction of the tabernacle, which was again, that was the mobile temple that Solomon later built to a permanent structure called the temple. And I actually showed a model on our screen of what that would look like. So it was like a big yard, got a big yard and it's got a fence and fence. And you go in and they have different sections in there. And then there's like a tent inside there, the tent, which was the tabernacle. So you go through, you walk into the tent. So you get your outer courtyard, then you get into the tent. And when you walk into the tent, what you have is the holy place. And you've got, I believe you had on the left, I think, I'm trying to remember, I think you have the lamp stand and on the right, you have the table of the bread. And then right at the back, towards the curtain, you have the altar incense. And so the priest, he goes in and he makes the sacrifices and he does all the applications. And then he does the the incense altar with a burns up to God. Then he then he goes back into the next section of the tent, which is behind that curtain. And so that's what he's talking about here in Hebrew 6, behind that curtain. That's where the holy of Holies is. That's the, that's where it's at. That's where God's presence is at. And so he goes in there and that's the arc of the covenant is inside there with the mercy seat on top of it. And you get to share of them guarding it, which is, we've said this on the podcast before, which is a picture of the tree of life. And so that's where that's happening. So when you're reading that, I'm thinking about that. But you got to keep in mind that all of that happened with Moses. There was a there was biblical history before Moses, right? You had Abraham was before Moses. And Abraham ran into a priest whose name was Melchizedek. And Abraham actually tied to Melchizedek. So let's get into that. Let's get into that because then he when he goes to chapter 7, just hang on right there because that was good lead in and then you can continue. So when he gets to Melchizedek, he said, because Jesus, that's where 6, 20, that's where that goes. It says where Jesus who went before us has entered on our behalf, he has become a high priest. Here's a key word forever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In the order of Melchizedek. So you're like, well, who in the world is Melchizedek? That that that would wouldn't that be a great thing just to go street preaching. Just go and say, who is Melchizedek? 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So whether you're shopping for yourself or somebody else, cozy earth will not disappoint you and they have a 10 year warranty and a 100 night trial. So you really can't go wrong. There's no way you're going to want to return these. These viral PJs are so good that they sold out there in the holiday season. And so now they're back with an exclusive deal only available January 25th through February 8th. So head over to cozy earth.com and use our promo code unashamed bow go to get these PJs for you and somebody that you love. And if you get a post purchase survey, be sure to mention that you heard about cozy earth right here on the unashamed podcast. That's cozy earth.com code unashamed bow go celebrate every day love with comfort that makes the little moments count. Who is Mel Cazin? Well, he's a strange figure in the Bible because there's not a whole lot written about him. I mean, like, but he's like a key, he's like this key figure, but you're like, that's it. And it's like two verses. It's like any more detail. You don't matter. Sure. That's a t-shirt. You don't mind conversation starter. Yeah. Who is Mel Cazin? People because people like who is Mel Cazin? Because I like the idea because it would get people it's going to lead to the guy who came in the order of Mel Cazin. Which is a guy named Jesus who claimed to be both God and man. It would be our version of six seven. You know, the kids got the six seven thing on the internet, which means nothing, by the way. But it's it's everywhere. What if we could get everywhere? Yeah, I never was Mel Cazin. It was six seven. It doesn't mean anything. But it reminded me of when they wore the shirt to who is Pedro. Yeah, that was the guy. No, no, not who is Pedro. Vote for Pedro. Vote for Pedro. The vote for Pedro. You didn't know what it was until you watched the movie. I didn't know who it was. I still don't know who he is. What? You missed that cultural moment. I missed the cultural moment, but I thought. I was thinking who is Pedro. They're like vote for Pedro. I was like, who is Pedro? But it got me. I don't know anybody. So, you know, you got to start with a, you got to start with a polyendonomite. Yeah. And then we got to reach the community. See, I'm always, I'm always scared to like do an internet search over things. I don't know. You would like to film because you like not you. Don't you like not your Libre? I love that movie. No, no, no, that one. Yeah. If you like not your Libre, I feel like if you like not your Libre, I feel like that. I liked it for what? Yeah, I liked it for what it was. It was a bit. Yeah, but the clean, it was clean. We grew up 11 wrestling. So that tapped into something with us. Yeah. I think once you buy into this is the most ridiculous thing I've ever watched. You'll find it funny. Or then you know, I'm never trying to pull it in dynamite. Even dynamite is more ridiculous, I think, than not your Libre. So it's a little, you got to have things. I know who Napoleon Dynamite is since then because some of my kids through the years, you know, they did the, what do you call them, the little gif meme things. Yeah. You know, and the guy, he did the dance and which I thought was pretty funny. I actually did my version of that at some point. I did a Napoleon Dynamite dance. But I never made the connection that that had something to do with Pedro. So this is, in Pedro's a character in the movie. So that makes more sense now. Okay. Back to Mark. Back to Mark Hasard. So, Mark Hasard, but here's the difference. So then verse 15 of chapter 7. Now we're skipping through this just for time. And what we have said is even more clear, if another priest like Mark Hasard appears, one who has become a priest, not on the basis of a regulation or to his ancestry. So Jesus and Melchizedek had some similarities there with their ancestry being a little bit not from a place unknown. Yeah. Yeah. Or not reputable or established. But it says not, not on the basis of that. This verse is fire. But on the basis, how much Jesus, of the power of an indestructible life. I mean, the first time I read that, I thought this is who I'm following. You know, I'm following him. He's indestructible. He has an indestructible life, which goes in with how John started in 1st John 1, 1, 2, 4. Life of life, the word of life, he's indestructible. That's a word we only fantasize about in all Hollywood, you know, all these movies where these people are indestructible. Oh, it just makes me sick. You have a historical document of a person, evidence overwhelming, who was on the planet who's indestructible. I'm like, you can participate in this. Come on. So, you're not for your Spider-Man and Superman. There's another T-shirt though. What if, on the front of your T-shirt, it said, I'm living the indestructible life. In essence, that's what this text is saying, right? Yep. I'm getting sidetracked. So then he goes on to the point. So he gets down to verse 22, chapter 7. Well, I want to get into this Psalm 110. So that equals that. We have to read Psalm 110. So it says, and verse 20. And it was not without an oath. And this goes back to these unchangeable things about God. He can't lie. He tells you, a promise is going to happen. But he became a priest with an oath when God said to him, the Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. So there's your two things that are unchangeable. When God says something, he's not going to change his mind about it. You are a priest forever. Well, that's a quote from Psalm 110. And you're like, what does this have to do with verse 21? Everything. Psalm 110 says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. That's how the Psalm starts. Well, who's the person that's sitting at the right hand? Before we started, Hebrews 1. What's he doing? Yeah. So, but watch what Psalm 110, it's a short Psalm 1, read it. The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion. This Zion keeps coming up. And you'll see why when we get to the end of Hebrews, you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Well, that sounds like what's going on now. Jesus is King of kings at the right hand of God. And he's ruling until he makes his enemies his footstool. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle, arrayed and holy majesty. From the womb of the dawn, you will receive the dew of your youth. Or some, there's a different translation there as your young man will come to you like the dew. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. So how David knew this song? I mean, I knew this story. And then the Hebrew writer taps into it. It's the Holy Spirit of God putting this all together for us. Well, I mean, Melchizedek is a key figure in the Bible, but to the point we said earlier, but I'm not written about him. But listen to this because if you think about what have we been talking about on this podcast for a long time, it's the idea. That Jesus gave us in his prayer when he said that I will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So if you think about like for us, what does it mean? We've really emphasized the connection of heaven and earth. So when you go back to Melchizedek, how he fits into this whole story, go back to Genesis 14. I wanted to read a few of these verses. Oh, he's about five verses, but Abraham had just our Averm wrath. At this point, he hadn't become Abraham yet. He's Abraham and he has a battle. He wins the battle. He comes back and then this Melchizedek shows up in verse 18 of Genesis 14. And Melchizedek, who was the king of Salem, which was probably Jerusalem, he brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God most high. So he's in the pre-figures Christ, obviously. That's one distinction that he holds that Christ will also embody, which he's a priest and a king. And the Hebrew writer points this out. He was a priest of the God of Israel and he blessed him and said, listen to the blessing, blessed be Abraham by God most high possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be God most high who's delivered your enemies in your hands. And Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. So whoever this figure is, Abraham is tithing to him. And the king of Sodom said to Abraham, give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself. But Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I've lifted my hand to the Lord God most high possessor of heaven and earth that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, less you should say, I have made Abraham rich. I will take nothing but the young men, but what the young men have eaten and share of the men who went with me and the kind of ends there. But I mean, that's really all there is in scripture about this guy, this declaration and the blessing of the God who is God of heaven and earth. And then he gives this blessing to Abraham and Abraham is thankful. So the first time I got a term life insurance policy, now is when we had our first child, Laila, I don't know about you. It was the first time that you purchased a term life insurance policy. You know, actually one was purchased for me by a guy we mentioned on the podcast before, Burley's dad, he was selling insurance. And he did when I was a very young man as a way to help me get started. And I'll never forget how much that meant to me. It's always been a big blessing. Well, that's a big deal. You know, I thought about what happens if I die? Who's going to take care of my brand new wife and a brand new baby? I wanted to make sure they were taking care of. So I went ahead and got a term life insurance policy. I'm a big believer in this. 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Well, and I want to read the last few verses of this song. It says, the Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath. Revelation 1.5 says that same thing. He's the ruler of the kings of the earth. I'm not sure why we're not talking about this. He's ruling in the midst of his enemies. And guess what? What should just happen in Genesis 14? Before Abraham has this encounter with Mokezard. He had just defeated kings. Yeah, other kings. And this goes back to this priest and king. That them be an anointed. Then we went through the whole anointing thing. Somebody asked me, why do you call yourself a Christian? And of course, I was like, well, I follow Jesus. He is the Christ. It's not his name. That's a title. It's not. I think it's used. Like most people when they hear the word Jesus Christ, you only hear that in the world when someone's using it as a, yeah, expletive. They're like, well, that's his last name. That's a Christ is a title, meaning the anointed one. Yeah, the Messiah. Yeah. And so that's the rabbit hole. Because they were like, no, that word just, you know, they didn't come till wherever the first time, where they were called Christians. Yeah. Anyok in any, I was like, but what is Christians? I was like, well, we're the anointed ones. Like, what? There's like, well, how are you anointed? I said, well, the Holy Spirit member went, how was Jesus anointed? This was the conversation, which it was an interesting debate. They had a problem with something I was saying. And I wasn't sure what it was. But after this was over, guess what it was? Crickets. Because I thought, this is what the Bible says. We have the same spirit of him who raised him from the dead Romans 8, 11. Now, have you want to use it? Fine. We're not, you know, an anointing culture now, but they were. They would put all on people's heads. And it was a designation of trusting in God and those kind of things. And these priests and kings speaking on behalf for the people in the presence of God. So it makes this more sense when you read 1 John, seeing how we've now been included in that. We're sharing this spirit, this unity in the spirit. So verse 5 says, Lord is your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of His wrath. He will judge the nations. He peeping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. If they don't put their trust in Jesus, which it's available for even them, this is, this is not going to end well for them. And I think even the world doesn't have a good argument outside of Jesus, how to extend life or find true meaning in life. But then it says, the one who grants succession will set him in authority. Therefore, he will lift up his head. And remember that whole story in Genesis 28, Jacob goes back and sees the latter. And there's a head up in heaven as in contrast to what he called a Bethel, the house of God, in contrast to Babel, which is the gods, the portal to the gods. And so I think you see that. And he's quoting that here in Hebrews when he says that in Hebrews chapter 7. Heaven said all that when you get to how this applies practically, when you get to verse 23 of chapter 7 in Hebrews, it says, now there have been many of those priests since death, prevented them from continuing in their office. That was the problem, even if you had a good representative for the people who's designated, if you had this encounter, we got, well, what happens when they die? Well, then you get his son or whatever. It's passed on like in kings or well, that's not a good game to be playing. What if his son, the name believing God or whatever? But because, now here's the, here's what we want to focus on. But because Jesus and here's this word again, lives forever. He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save forever or completely those who come to God through him. And here's the little phrase that makes all this makes sense. Because he always lives, he always lives to intercede for them. He's speaking on our, he is interceding on our behalf. Well, where's this taking place? It's taking place right now at the right hand of God. So then he goes on to say, such a high priest meets our need. One who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. That's why he's more qualified than any other human that's ever walked the planet. Unlike the other high priest, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins, once for all, when he offered himself, for the law appoints his high priest, man, who are weak, but the oath which came after the law appointed the son who has been made perfect forever. What you're talking about, Jay, is one of the differences. Zach, when you were earlier talking with the tabernacle, be a temporary, and the temple being more permanent, but it's still temporary. That's the thing because something is more permanent, doesn't mean it's permanent. That's where we read these scriptures and look at them. I think it's where we differ even from a lot of religious people. Is they still have that patch of ground in Israel and this looking forward to some third temple being built there as the permanent structure, but we're saying, no, we are the living stones, the permanent structure, the forever has begun, the portal is here. Where the house is gone? There's another super controversial thread that is in this, I think, that we solve through this text is there's a big debate on the judgment of God, whether God's really judging evil in this world. Does the blood of Christ actually do something or is it just symbolic? There's this big debate and it came to a head. I say I had, I mean, it's been a debate for a long time, but there was a book that came. I actually bought the book and read it called The Lamb of the Free. It's about this idea that Christ's blood, it's more like a symbolic thing. It's not actually efficacious. Like God's not actually paying a penalty for sin. There's not really a real penalty, just that we're sinners in our own mind. The guy who wrote the book is a scholar of, he's a Levitical scholar, so his kind of work was in the book of Leviticus. He makes his whole case for denying that substitutionary at the time of Christ. He denies it through going back and looking at Leviticus. I read the book and then I thought, you know, it's interesting though, if you read what's happening here in Hebrews, the Hebrew writers not locating the efficacy of Christ in the Levitical priesthood. That's the whole point with this Malkesidic guy. He's saying this got prefigures, Leviticus. He, because thinking about if you were going to be a priest in Israel, you have to be from, like you have to be descended from Aaron. You got to come from that tribe and that was the tribe of Levi. You couldn't be a priest unless you're in that tribe. All of the priests were Levites. That's why the book is called Leviticus. It has to be from the tribe of Levi. When you read this, what he's saying is, even in chapter 7, he says in verse 11, if perfection had been attained through the Levitical priesthood, for under it, the people received the law, what further need were there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Malkesidic rather than the one named after the order of Aaron? What's he saying there? If you could have got a perfection through this old system, then it would have came that way. But that old system was pointing to an evolution of a better system that now Christ comes in. When we connect Christ with Malkesidic, we're saying that Christ is not only a priest, he's a king, just like Malkesidic. We're also saying he had a new father and mother. We don't know who he wasn't descended from the natural way. You can't go back and look, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary. The Christ was born of the Holy Spirit. He was not connected. He existed. Malkesidic existed as a priest before there even was a Levitribe. That's a good point. I think Hebrews 9 explains what you're saying. I'm just trying to pick out the, instead of reading the whole chapter, I mean, you could. But when it gets to verse 11, it says when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say not a part of this creation. Well, where's that? He's in the presence of God in heaven. So then it says he didn't enter the blood of the bulls of goats and calves, but he entered the most holy place in all cows. Once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. And so, verse 14 of chapter 9, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts, sin, that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God. That's why first John 2.1 says, I'll write this to you so that you will not sin. I mean, sin is a killer. You can look at our culture. You can look at all the violence and all the things going on, but what you have to do is look at your own life and realize we got a sin problem. This is where all the problems are coming from. Well, there's a little hidden word there. You said it has everything to do with it, it's confidence. So you go back in chapter 9 a little bit before you just read, because what you just read is that now we have confidence. Right. But there's a way, this is the way that we can have confidence to enter into the most holy place. But to go back and look in verse 9, it says, according to this arrangement, now that each time I put the Levitical arrangement, the old way, according to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifice are offered that cannot. They cannot perfect the conscience of the worshipers. But they are only with food and drink and various washings, regulations and the body imposed until the time of reformation. So you think about what this means, like, in just real world experience, like you go and you do these liturgical acts, right. I'm going to do the liturgical act of whatever it is in the old system. I'm going to get my sacrifice made. I'm going to go into the temple and in the day, you're kind of like, I'm still me, right. I still got my junk. And the same thing applies today, you, if you try to come into a relationship with God by your own merit and your own work, at the end of the day, you just know it's not going to work. I mean, I read this book years ago that there was very popular among women. I wanted to read it because a lot of girls in the church were at were reading it. I read it. And it was just basically self-empowerment. It was like, bootstrap yourself up in your own righteousness. Girl, you do you bootstrap it up and you are awesome. And I'm like, here's a problem that you can do that and you can pretend like that's true. At the end of the day, though, you know that it's not true. You know your own heart. You know your shortcomings. You know your inability. You know your incompetencies. They just, we just have them because we're sinful and we're fallen. And so if I'm coming into the relationship of righteousness by my own merit, it's actually not going to work. I'm unconscious at the end of the day. It's just not, it's not going to be pure enough to do that. And so what happens with Christ in his accomplishment as being a high priest in the order of Mount Kassadak, who was perfect and he was a king, if he's the one that is actually accomplishing whatever it is for me and he's taking that accomplishment into the throne of the God as a forerunner on my behalf and inviting me in. Now all of a sudden, it's the baptism verse and the Peter says, I can pledge a good conscious towards God. Not because of me. It saves you by the resurrection. I've been connected with Christ now. So I'm actually appealing on his merit and his ability, not my own. It's kind of the key point of the gospel, right? Oh, it is. Well, and to your point, he quotes Leviticus there in Hebrews 9 and verse 12, Hebrews 9 and verse 21 and 22. And so he gets to 24 and it's like for Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one. Here we go. He entered heaven itself. This is his perspective, the Hebrew writer. What Jesus has made available right now in heaven now to appear for us in God's presence. He didn't enter heaven to offer himself again and again the way the high priest enters the most holy place every year. With blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. I mean, it's pretty clear. So then he gets to chapter 10. We're not going to get finished if we keep stopping it. I got to say one thing because that's a big point. Heaven to heaven to what it's they heaven to now appear in the presence of God. Listen to this. Listen to this. Second Corinthians 5.1. You want to bring in heaven and earth back together again. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God an eternal house in heaven not built by human hands. Love it. Hebrews 10, 19. So we're now moving to 10. Therefore, brother since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new that get the word new keeps coming up a new covenant a new humanity a new kingdom creation a new kingdom. It says by new and living way open for us through the curtain that is his body and that's something through his body. He ripped that curtain to the presence of God for humanity. And since we have a great priest over the house of God which are people who have put their faith in the trust in Jesus have the spirit. Let us draw near to God which is another common theme that we keep keeping reading with a sincere heart full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unsorvingly to the hope we profess for he who promised is faithful. That's what first John 2 says. He's faithful and just. Well, I think that's first John 1. When it says uh where does it say that when it says he is faithful and just and we forget that's a chapter 1 in verse 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just. Well, forgive us our sin. He's at the right hand of God. See chapter 2. So you fast forward and get to chapter 12 and this is where all those psalm, psalm 2, psalm 24, psalm 110 all of what we had in Hebrews all the pictures of this new Zion, whatever this represents in chapter 12 in verse 22 it says but you have come to mount Zion to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You've come to thousands upon thousands to angels and joyful assembly to the church of the first born whose names are written in heaven. You've come to God the judge of all men to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. To Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkle blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. And you remember when his when he was murdered his blood cried out from the ground you're like why? Yeah. Because your blood is your life source and it's not meant to be spilled out on the earth. It's not it's not meant that's not meant to happen. And between human decision that was poor and sinful and the spiritual forces that contributed to that Jesus came down here to spill his blood to unify humanity once again and he's been presented in God's presence at the right hand of God where he is now interceding mediating for us. What did the blood? What did the blood of Abel cry out? Justice. Yeah. The blood of I don't want to say I want to actually want to read this. Read it. Where's that? You have two minutes. Genesis 410 the voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me and it's crying out for vengeance for justice for what Christ blood cries out is not vengeance. Christ blood cries out atonement. Christ blood cries out forgiveness. Christ blood cries out covering. And so it is a better word. It's a much better word, particularly if you're in the position of the one who was shedding the blood which we all are because of our sin. So when we you said why are you doing all this? That is we've come to this new covenant where his blood speaks a better word than Abel because when you get to first John 311 you know what he throws in here? This is the message we have heard from the beginning. We should love one another. Do not be like Cain who belonged to the Eve one. This is why we went through this in Hebrews. Who who belonged to the Eve one and murdered his brother? Who is that? That was Abel. Why was John bringing this up here? And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brothers were righteous. Don't be surprised by brothers if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brothers a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. This echoes throughout the whole book of first John. You're in the fellowship of the Godhead who loves us. He proved it through Jesus. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God saying, come on. Let's do this. And that should affect how you function on earth with your fellow man and in every capacity and every relationship. So just to wrap up this excursion, the excursion was to take us to the idea of what it really means for atonement and an anointing at the same time, which is where we're at here in first John 2, 1 and 2. And so that sets us up for verse 3, which is where we'll get next time in our study about what that looks like once we begin to understand and wrap our mind around this. So we'll see you next time. We'll run a shame. 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